I went to uni a couple years back. I don't know if it's changed in 2014 or 2013 but previously no Econ degree required FM. That's just unnecessary.

Now if you took FM and you applied for a BEcon, and the offer requires you to get an A grade in FM, that's not the same thing. There was never any FM prerequisite in the first place and it is possible (but not easy) to get into the best Econ school without FM.

Try to think about this : What type of works you preferred in the future? Office work? Work in hospital / lab / construction site?
If you are able to answer this question, I guess you know what you want and choose the correct pathway

Perhaps it's more of a recent requirement due to grade inflation in the UK. The econs course in my old uni requires students to take Math and ideally FM as well (though only math is compulsory).

This post has been edited by Cottoncandyclouds: Jul 30 2014, 11:21 PM

I think FM is not just only calculating but training the student on critical thinking, analysis, logical thinking, solving problem so on and so forth.

You are answering my core question and many thanks.

I think few unis would teach Econ to the level that would require such a strong Maths background that it would justify needing FM as a prerequisite.

So yes, the purpose of FM is to differentiate between applicants only. They encourage people to do FM (LSE etc) because all else being equal, an A or A* in FM would set you apart right away. Most of the time I think this won't apply as the majority of Econ students or candidates won't and aren't expected to have FM. If you don't take FM and you have a competitive application you will still get in, because there are quite a lot of spots available in Econ. Taking FM forces you to have to do well in it.

LSE is one of the special cases because you'd have to do more Maths (and possibly at a higher level) than others, and while you don't need FM knowledge it doesn't hurt to have that advantage.

Correct me (for I may be wrong) but FM teaches Chi square, z tests and the like right (along with proving theorems). Won't most students cover that in their econometrics syllabus (I did)?

If you google " economics further math " you will start seeing a few university admissions pages coming up.

This post has been edited by Cottoncandyclouds: Jul 31 2014, 10:24 AM